She adds Alberta Health Services is expecting higher numbers for this year.

Hinshaw says the province has seen similar rates of congenital syphilis in which the infection is spread from a mother to her unborn child.

She says a provincial outbreak co-ordination committee is to be set up on how to increase testing for sexually transmitted diseases, promote public awareness and reduce the overall number of syphilis cases in Alberta.

Hinshaw says she can’t comment on how Alberta compares with the rest of the country, because other jurisdictions have not released recent syphilis figures.

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